NEW DELHI, 22 March 2006 — India and Bangladesh yesterday signed agreements on increasing trade and jointly fighting drug trafficking during a visit by Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, officials said.
The anti-narcotics agreement “envisages quick exchange of information regarding operational intelligence and to help each other build up records in respect of smugglers, suspects, financiers (and) organizers,” the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The two countries also renewed a trade agreement signed in 1990 to expand trade that is now estimated at $2 billion.
“Both the countries would make mutually beneficial arrangements for the use of their waterways, roadways and railways for commerce between the two countries,” the statement said. Khaleda was given a ceremonial welcome to India yesterday before meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders.
Earlier, Manmohan said a strong Bangladesh was in India’s interest. “A strong and prosperous Bangladesh is in the interest of India, South Asia and the Asian region as a whole,” Manmohan told reporters after the reception for Khaleda at the presidential palace. “She is an honored guest and we have intimate ties of friendship with Bangladesh,” Manmohan was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India (PTI).
Just ahead of the talks, India’s Border Security Force said it had detained 1,200 Bangladeshis in West Bengal state this year.
BSF officials said this was a 30 percent jump in the number detained in the eastern border state compared to the first eight weeks of 2005.
“We are deploying more troops to plug the gaps in the new transit points,” BSF Inspector-General Somesh Goyal said. India already has tens of thousands of troops on the border that runs through forests, hills, marshes and rivers. India says rebel groups waging a number of insurgencies in its northeast operate from bases in Bangladesh. However, the agreements made no mention of India’s accusations.
Bangladesh denies India’s claim that it hosts more than 30 insurgent camps, training rebels who sneak across the porous border to attack targets in India. Dhaka also says there are no illegal Bangladeshi migrants in India.
Khaleda arrived in Delhi Monday. Her entourage includes Foreign Minister Morshed Khan, Finance Minister M. Saifur Rahman and a 40-member business delegation.
